Free Throw Shots: How Free Throws Work in Basketball

A free throw, or foul shot, is an unguarded scoring attempt that a referee awards a basketball player after an opposing team member commits a foul against them, their team, or an official. Free throws provide a basketball team with the opportunity to score points outside of the shot clock during a basketball game. (The shot clock is a countdown timer mounted above the hoop on each side of the basketball court that displays and counts down the time allotted per possession.)

Four types of fouls generate free throws: personal, technical, team, and flagrant. Personal fouls involve blocking or striking a player while shooting, while team fouls occur when a basketball team exceeds its allotted number of fouls per game. Fighting or verbal abuse from players and coaches alike is a technical foul, resulting in free throw attempts and possible ejection from the game. Learn more about how fouling works in basketball.

After the referee awards free throws, the shooter must stand behind the free throw line at the end of the restricted area on the basketball court to take the shot. Up to four players from each team line up on either side of the free throw lane in anticipation of capturing the rebound and taking possession of the ball if the shooter misses the basket. The rebounding players must remain in position until the ball leaves the shooter’s hands, or the referee will award the shooter an additional shot attempt. Depending on the nature of the foul, the player receives between one and three free throw attempts. Each successful free throw counts as one point.

In North American professional basketball, the free throw line—also known as the foul line or charity stripe— bisects the twelve-foot free throw circle, which is nineteen feet from the baseline that runs along the sides of the courts behind the baskets. The backboard, or raised vertical board attached to the basketball net, is fifteen feet from the free throw line.

The free throw line is the endpoint of the basketball court’s free throw lane, also known as the key, the lane, or the paint. The key is sixteen feet wide in National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), and International Basketball Federation (FIBA) games. The key is twelve feet wide in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

Here is a breakdown of the fouls for which referees may award free throws:

1. 1. Flagrant foul: A flagrant foul is an aggressive foul that can potentially harm an opposing player. The fouled player receives two free throws, and their team gains possession of the ball for a flagrant foul. If a foul injures a player, their team can designate another player to take the free throws.
2. 2. Personal foul: Personal fouls are infractions that violate game rules, such as pushing or blocking a player on the opposing team while they are shooting. The number of free throws that the referee awards the fouled player depends on how close they are to the three-point line: if the fouled player is within the three-point arc, they receive two free throws; If the player is behind the three-point arc, they’ll receive three free throws. If a player makes the basket at the time of a foul, they get both the points for the field goal and one free throw.
3. 3. Team fouls: Basketball teams get a certain number of fouls per game: NBA players get six personal fouls, while women’s basketball allows seven per regulation half of a game. NCAA college basketball and most high-school leagues only allow five per game. Once a team surpasses this allotment, teams go “into the bonus,” which means the opposing team gets a free throw for every additional foul per player in a game quarter. The NCAA rulebook allows “one-and-one,” which means that if a player makes a free throw, they also receive a second attempt.
4. 4. Technical foul: A technical foul occurs when a player, coach, or member of the team’s staff shows unsportsmanlike conduct, like physical or verbal abuse against a referee. A technical violation, like a delay of game, will also generate a technical foul. The opposing team gets two free throws and possession of the ball. Two technical fouls in the same game result in ejection; players or staff with multiple technical fouls risk suspension from regular season and playoff games.

There are many notable free throwers in the world of basketball, including:

1. 1. Karl Malone: Karl “The Mailman” Malone holds the NBA career record for most free throws made, with 9,787 points. The former Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers power forward—a two-time NBA Most Valuable player—also has the record for most free throw attempts: 13,118 free throws with a free throw percentage of 74.20.
2. 2. Elena Delle Donne: At 93.4 percent, Elena Delle Donne has the highest free throw success rate in both WNBA and NBA history. She credits her success to having practiced constantly since the eighth grade, particularly when she’s tired, which helps her replicate game-day conditions.
3. 3. Steph Curry: Golden State Warriors point guard is the team’s all-time free throw leader, and in the 2019–2020 season, had a 90.6 free throw percentage, the highest in NBA history. In 2021, Curry had a streak of eighty free throws in a row, making his run the fifth-longest in the sport’s history to date.
4. 4. Kevin Durant: In the 2012–2013 season, Durant joined the estimable 50-40-90 club, an informal statistic of the best shooters in the league. To join its ranks—which include scoring legends Steph Curry, Larry Bird, and Steve Nash—a player needs to maintain a fifty-percent field goal average, a forty-percent three-point field goal average, and a ninety-percent free throw percentage over a regular season. KD hit the mark as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder with fifty-one percent in field goals, a forty-one percent three-point field goal rate, and a 90.5 percent free throw shooting average.
5. 5. Michael Jordan: NBA legend Michael Jordan had a reputation for teasing rookie players, and in 1991, it was Denver Nuggets newcomer Dikembe Mutombo’s turn. While at the foul line, Jordan missed his first free throw before singling out the Nugget newcomer. After “dedicating” his next free throw to Mutombo, Jordan closed his eyes and sank his second shot, ending the game with a win for the Chicago Bulls.
6. 6. Tom Amberry: While not a professional basketball player, Tom Amberry set a free throw record. The podiatrist set the world record for the most consecutive free throws made over the course of twelve hours on November 15, 1993. He made 2,750 shots in a row at the age of seventy-one. He later worked with several NBA teams to help players develop their free throw skills.

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